THE DEAF BILLIONAIRE

10.Chapter Ten.

Lily wordlessly tugged behind her presumed boss, she could however notice one thing ;the tall hulk of a man was very much nervous and a number of thoughts started running in her mind.

Or was this not an interview?

She spared a glance at the man that had peeked inside the office earlier, his brows were furrowed and his face bore a solemn look almost as if whatever activity they were to indulge in was a ritual.

Is this a ritual ? 

Am I the ritual ?

What kind of interview is this, that they look more nervous than I am?

Why was he not wearing a shirt anyway ?

Wait, who is supposed to be interviewing me?

The series of questions ran short in her mind when she almost ran into his back. He had abruptly turned in front of a glass door, spared her a glare and signed, " SIGN ALL WORDS SAID IN THIS MEETING AND TRANSLATE ALL THAT I SAY."

Lily nodded.

He opened the door, ushering them in first.

Under normal circumstances, Lily would have appreciated the ornate details on the furnishings, the strangely antique but suiting chandeliers and the carpet that she almost felt guilty trodding on with her simple shoes. Instead, she became nonchalant but a raging nervous being at the sight of the evidently powerful men and women seated at the conference table.

Properly tailored suits, tie neat against collars if not silks and chiffons against blazers, watches that glinted against the light if not jewellery Lily only saw on Tiffany & Co.  magazines through high-end window shops. The place reeked of old money, class that made her feel dwarfed and suffocated,  suddenly she mildly understood the reason for the telephone at the lobby because at the moment she was staring at one  on a nice stand adjacent to the projector on the screen. 

She stood next to her presumed boss and watched him, he seemed uncomfortable not because of the people in the room, it was clear he was like them if not better but a man directly across from them glared at him with all his might. Lily then saw it, the room was divided, the people on the left side of the table seemed to have had croaking frogs shoved up their throats for breakfast while the ones on the right seemed to have blasted an upbeat melody on their way to the meeting.

The tension was palpable.

This was a unique interview and she wished she was at the comfort of her old battered bed talking to her miniature friend who seemed to have an appetite for everything.

If I get out of here alive, I promise my little roach a lot of crumbs.

He began to sign, "GOOD MORNING LADIES AND GENTS ?"

"TODAY, WE SHALL BE DISCUSSING HOW NOAH CORPORATION  INTENDS TO IMPLEMENT  POLICIES IN FACILITATING MANUFACTURE OF TECH EQUIPMENT TO AID THE DEAF CULTURE SOCIALIZE MORE WITH-"

An angry member from the left interrupted both Noah and Lily, she had to briefly recover before quickly signing what the member was lamenting over.

"How ! When it's clear you still have to rely on people like herself to communicate to us ?"

" I AM YET TO IMPLEMENT THE EQUIPMENTS, FURTHER THE IMPORTANCE OF SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS SHOULD NEVER BE UNDERMINED. HER SKILLS ARE STILL VERY MUCH RELEVANT EVEN AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EQUIPMENT," Noah explained.

Another from the left, a fierce lady shot up to her feet, "Then what is the use of this meeting ?"

"How will you implement anything when you are literally at the verge of running bankrupt ! What money will you use?"

"Lies, Noah ! Why don't  you tell little miss over there she'll be kicked out as soon as you produce your ASL bots,"

Lily's signing faltered with the news.

"It's morally wrong to replace human teachers or sign language teachers with a bunch of emotionless robots. Kids in school will never get their emotions understood !"

"Seriously, this is dumb. Point number five, a vibrating watch. How is a deaf person supposed to hear a vibrating watch ! Are you dumb Mr. Ruiz !" A blonde shouted.

"Enough !" A voice boomed.

Lily was grateful for that interruption on the rising innuendos, she barely had time to process whatever they were accusing Mr. Noah of, the only thing she was both grateful and terrified to learn was that she was standing before one of the youngest billionaire bachelors in NY, Mr. Noah Ruiz .

Oh! Oh! I think I may pass out.

Mr. Ruiz was not popular in the streets since he had morals tight as a nun and shied away from the spotlight like an injured lion. No one knew about his rendezvous if he ever had any, or about his total net worth since it was rumoured that he had specifically paid all gossip sites to bloat out his information from the worldwide web so that years later he would be a myth, a myth that Lily had believed only for her to show up at his doorstep gawking like a fool at his building interiors and poorly attempting to stifle a titter when she had stumbled upon him half naked in the office.

Will I really get this job ?

She did not have to wonder for long, Mr. Ruiz's glare jolted her mind to focus and she quickly started to sign again. Luckly, she heard the words.

"We've come to listen to policies and ways he would implement to facilitate the production of equipments supposed to assist users and the Deaf culture in better interaction, how about we listen to what Mr. Noah has to say about how all these stuff works first before you can dissuade me from investing my shares in this company,afterall, I should be allowed to make my own decisions without biased opinions , right ?"

He was a short but fit build of a man, hints of grey on his dark stubble that was more prominent when he looked around the table. The ones on his side nodded eagerly and he looked at the left again, "Right  Everyone ?"

The ones on the left begrudging acknowledged him by a nod. 

"Right, Mr. Ruiz ? "The man repeated again, staring at the man seated at the other end of the table , whose glare seemed more menacing with each passing second that Lily involuntarily shuddered.  

****

Hi guys, I am sorry for this late update, this was supposed to be updated yesterday but I was still doing a little modification, tell me what do you think Mr. Noah Ruiz ? 

And guess who the other Ruiz is ?

Okay, I had a lot of fun writing this and I promise to update the next one as soon as possibe.

Thanks for reading and voting too.